 The
Triangle Lake Trail starts where the Colvin Creek Trail ends and
has Triangle Lake as its final destination. The trail is about 2.5 km
long, starts at 45 m elevation and its highest elevation is at the lake
at 210 m. Like the Colvin Creek Trail, it is exclusively for hiking. The trail winds through some of the more scenic areas in the forest with some old growth and over some rocky ridges with many arbutus trees. Only two short sections are on old logging roads. Most of it was planned to optimize its scenic values. Triangle Lake is not actually a lake, but a true bog, a special type of wetland that is quite uncommon at low elevation on the Sunshine Coast. It is almost entirely surrounded by rocky ridges and receives its water only from rain. This nutrient-poor water provides the necessary conditions for bog development. Most of the wetland is covered with a thick layer of floating peat moss, only just strong enough to support a person. The trail provides a good view of the lake, but visitors are discouraged from going into the bog, which is not only difficult, but may also damage the sensitive vegetation. Dominant plants are sphagnum mosses, bog cranberry, Labrador tea, bog laurel, shore pine and the insect-eating round leaved sundew. The bog is of special habitat significance for Olive-sided Flycatcher and Common Yellowthroat.  The trail was built in 1995, during a period of
22 weeks, by a team of seven people. They were employed by the Sargeant
Bay Society, under Human Resources Development Canada’s Job Development
Program. The trail was
located in the Sechelt Provincial Forest at the time. Triangle Lake and
the trail became part of Sargeant Bay Provincial Park in 1996, under
the
Protected Areas Strategy.In the fall of 2006 and 2007 the Sargeant Bay Society built a circle trail around Triangle Lake. The trail can be reached from Redrooffs Road via the Triangle Lake Trail, a one hour hike, or from Trout Lake via the Little Knives Trail, a half hour hike. The Circle Trail itself takes about one hour. Features along the trail include impressive views of Triangle Lake and old growth trees and wetlands with Red Legged Frogs and Tree Frogs. The trail was built by Kye Goodwin
with volunteers
John Nicholson and Kaja Scott. It was accurately surveyed by volunteers
Al
Jenkins and Jeff Muckle. Mapping was done by Joop Burgerjon. The trail was built with grants from the Union of BC Municipalities, the SCRD, and the Sunshine Coast Community Foundation and contributions from the Sargeant bay Society and BC Parks. The Sechelt Indian Band is recognized on the signage as the trail is within their traditional territory. Triangle Lake is called "S-ch'ewk'" in the Shishalh language, meaning "Fried Bread Lake". Click here for a map of the location of the trail. When hiking in comfort on
this new trail it is hard to imagine what visiting the area must have
been like
in "pre-SBS-historic" times. Only the toughest ventured bushwacking
into the area. Sunshine Coast Search and Rescue used it as an exersize
area. An interesting account of such an exersize appeared in the Coast News of April
6, 1977,
supplied by Land Surveyer Bob Allen, who hiked the trail in May,
2008 with his son Chris.
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